Ex-cop linked to slays nabbed

MANILA, Philippines—A former policeman tagged as one of the most wanted criminals in Metro Manila has finally been arrested, nearly 12 years after he went into hiding for killing a couple and wounding their two children in Valenzuela City.

Acting on a tip, agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) led by Supt. Leo Quevedo caught up with Federico Patag at his second wife’s house in Barangay Tambulilid, Ormoc City on Friday, Senior Supt. Ronald Estilles, chief of the CIDG’s Anti-Organized Crime Division, told reporters at Camp Crame on Monday.

“The arrest of the suspect was part of the CIDG’s intensified campaign to arrest wanted persons, especially those involved in high profile crimes,” Estilles said.

The 50-year-old Patag, who used to hold the rank of senior police officer 1, was the second most wanted man in the northern part of the metropolis and 10th in the National Capital Region.

Patag was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of frustrated murder after he shot and killed Allyson Dizon and his wife Elena inside the couple’s house on Oct. 9, 1999.

At that time, the policeman was assigned with the anti-illegal drugs unit of the Valenzuela police station.

The couple’s children, then aged 12 and 13, narrowly survived the attack, later referred to in the media as the “Valenzuela massacre.”

Before they were killed, the couple had been arrested by Patag for a drug-related offense. When the case against them was dismissed, they filed a case against the policeman with the People’s Law Enforcement Board.

“According to the suspect, he got irked with the victims when they filed a case against him. That drove him to commit the heinous crime,” Estilles said.